According to the IBM Threat Intelligence Index 2025, generative AI is growing in popularity as a tool for threat actors, especially those creating deepfakes.In IBM X-Force Cyber Range experiences, clients often request that we make deepfakes of their executive teams to validate how their staff react, and to observe how they protect themselves and their business from this threat. While we do this with the individual’s explicit consent (they must approve the script, which footage is used and sign a consent form—we created this process in partnership with the IBM Tech Ethics board), threat actors leverage whatever images or videos of the victim they can find online.